Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More

The earliest forms of democracy go back over 2000 years to Ancient Greece. While this early system did have voting, not everyone could vote.  In fact, most people couldn’t vote.  Voting was limited to free men and then only property-holding men.  The expansion of voting rights to women took centuries, but by the 19th century, a movement was taking place in many countries that eventually led to the...

If you ever watch a war movie, you might see a scene where a prisoner of war evokes the Geneva convention to their captors.  But what exactly is the Geneva Convention, and what does it say? Why did countries sign a treaty covering ethics in war, of all things? Who is and isn’t covered by the Geneva Convention, and what happened to prisoners of war before the Geneva Convention?  …and what happens i...

In the aftermath of the Second World War, everyone had hoped that major military conflicts would be a thing of the past. However, just five years after the end of the war, another major conflict erupted on the Korean Peninsula that directly or indirectly engaged most of the world’s great powers.  The war saw dramatic turns of fortune for both sides and in the end, nothing was ever resolved. Learn...

Despite having very different cultures and being separated by thousands of kilometers, Asia and Europe have been connected for thousands of years.  Through a series of overland and sea trade routes, goods, ideas, and people were able to move from east to west and vice versa.  These routes were responsible for some of history’s greatest cultural exchanges as well as some of its greatest disasters. ...

In 1982, the Phillips and Sony Corporations jointly released the compact audio disc to the world.  The technology involved was originally just used to play digital audio, but it actually had much more potential.  Over the last 40 years, basic optical disc technology used in CDs has expanded to store digital video and every type of digital data.  Yet, despite the ubiquity of the internet and the ab...

The United States and Canada share the world's longest undefended border. The United States and the United Kingdom have shared what has been called a “special relationship” since the Second World War. The idea of these countries going to war with each other today is unthinkable. Yet, this was not always the case. There was a time when this was very thinkable, and that time was far more recent than...

The Roman Empire was ruled by a single family for its first century. The family was actually a merger of two of the most distinguished clans in Roman history.  This family included some of the best and worst emperors in Rome's history. It also included a host of potential emperors who showed great potential but were killed under mysterious circumstances. Ultimately, paranoia and poor leadership ca...

Gravity is the weakest of the fundamental forces of nature, yet, if you have enough of it, it can create the most powerful thing in the known universe: a black hole.  The very idea of a black hole didn’t really exist until the early 20th century, and now they are regularly found by the world’s most powerful telescopes.  As much as we know about them, there is, even more we don’t know and probably...

Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC, is the home of the president of the United States.  The idea of a home for the president dates back to the very first president, and ever since the second president, every single one has lived in the same house while they were in office.  While the house appears to be the same as the one built in the late 18th century, the interior has been ra...

The modern world runs on electricity. That isn’t a throwaway statement. If we take away electricity, our modern civilization will quickly fall apart. The power that runs the modern world is dependent on a very technical, and in some cases very fragile, network of electrical generation, transmission, and consumption.  These electrical networks can be as small as a city or as large as a continent. ...

For thirty years between 1455 and 1485, England suffered its greatest civil war at that point.  The war was ultimately over succession to the throne and who should be king. The period was filled with death and bloodshed, and when the dust settled, it left England a changed country and set the stage for its later ascension.  Learn more about the War of the Roses, its causes, and its resolution on t...

Sometimes over 3000 years ago, somewhere in Southwestern China, a leaf from the Camellia sinensis plant may have accidentally found its way into a pot of boiling water.  Noticing that the leaf had turned the water a different color, some person unknown to history drank the concoction and found that it was good.  That was the start of something that is today a globe-spanning multi-billion dollar in...

December is upon us, and we should be cognizant of the fact that December is based on the Latin word Decem, meaning tenth, which is why December is the 10th month of the year……except that it is actually the 12th month.  The reason why the 12th month is named the 10th month is because the original Roman calendar was perhaps the dumbest calendar even used in all of human history, where they had a fu...

Music is a very powerful thing. It can invoke a wide variety of emotions and moods.  Particular songs we've heard might invoke memories of when we first heard them. However, there is some music that actually can server as a cultural shorthand. Not even full songs are necessary. Just a few notes can provide a very specific cultural reference. Learn more about representative riffs, what they are, an...

In 1897, the visionary Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky discovered an equation that governed how rockets worked.  His equation, which was independently discovered by several other rocket scientists, immutably governs how we can send rockets into space.  The variables in his equation have determined everything surrounding spaceflight and rocketry since its inception and will for the...

For about a month, from the end of November to the end of December every year, one of the most popular animals in North America is the turkey.  Turkeys are the traditional meal served at Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, it is a tradition that is found almost nowhere else in the world.  This is mostly due to the fact that turkeys are native to North America. Learn more about the turkey, how it...

After the Prophet Mohammed's death in 632, his followers faced a dilemma. Mohammed was not only their spiritual leader but also their political leader.  While no one could replace Mohammed, they needed a leader for their community.  The result was the creation of the position of the caliph, or "successor." A series of caliphs ruled the Islamic world for centuries, and they left an indelible mark o...

For more than 350 years, a single problem stumped the world of mathematics.  The problem was extremely simple to state, yet it proved fiendishly difficult to prove.  For several centuries, bounties were placed on finding a solution, and many failed to prove it.  Finally, in 1994, seemingly out of nowhere, a proof was offered, but it was far cry from the initial promise of being simple. Learn more...

There are many things in our world that have surprisingly ancient origins.  One of the things that most definitely does not have ancient origins in the concept of prison and incarceration as punishment.  Today, almost everywhere in the world, the primary form of punishment for crimes is incarceration. Yet historically speaking, this form of punishment was almost never practiced until the modern er...

It was the worst economic depression that the United States had ever seen.  The stock market crashed. Thousands of businesses went bankrupt. The unemployment rate hit 20% There were soup lines and an army of homeless scattered throughout the country.  It was not the Great Depression. Learn more about the Panic of 1893, the forgotten depression that realigned American politics, on this episode of E...

Since the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788, there have been 60 presidential elections, which have been run every four years.  Over time, a system was developed for the election of the president, including how parties select a candidate and how votes are selected. Some of this has been done via legislation, some via tradition, and some via constitutional amendments.  However,...

A little over 400 years ago, the world was undergoing a revolution, although most people who lived at that time probably didn’t know it.  For better or worse, the long-term and short-term changes were underway. Parts of the Earth that had never been in contact with each other began to make contact with each other, even if they weren’t looking to do so. Learn more about the world during the year 16...

There is an excellent chance that you know someone who has a twin sibling. In fact, there are some of you listening who have a twin brother or sister. Multiple births are something that isn’t common but also isn’t super rare, either. However, multiple births have actually become more common over time despite the fact that there are some types of multiple births that are exceedingly rare.  Learn mo...

California isn’t just another US state. It is the most populous state in the union, and it has an economy which, if it were an independent country, would be the 5th largest in the world.  Yet, this wasn’t always the case. In the 19th century, California wasn’t much at all. Hardly anyone lived there. It was far away from the American center of power and was technically part of Mexico. Yet despite i...

One of the most important inventions in human history was the bow and arrow.  A bow and arrow is a rather simple device but it was a revolutionary advancement for humanity’s ability to hunt and to fight.  Unlike many very early human inventions, the bow and arrow have had an extremely long lifespan. For thousands of years it remained virtually unchanged. That was until the last 100 years when this...